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CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur Prioritises Prime Minister’s Vision of ‘Doubling Farmers’ Income’
CSIR-CMERI Farm Mechanization Technologies Focuses upon Increasing Productivity per Hectare & Expanding Cultivable Area
Kolkata, September 21, 2021
CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur is focussed and incessantly working upon the realisation of Prime Minister’s Vision of ‘Doubling Farmers’ Income’. In this respect, CSIR-CMERI is more focussed upon Increasing Productivity per hectare along with expanding the Cultivable Area, stated, the Director of the Institute, Prof (Dr) Harish Hirani in his keynote address in a webinar titled ‘Modern Technologies & Machineries in Agricultural Implements’ organised by MSME-Development Institute, Karnal, Haryana on Monday (September 20, 2021).
Prof (Dr) Hirani shared that there is a need to establish a connection between the industry and research for Indian agriculture to flourish and prosper. CSIR-CMERI has transferred over 26 Farm Mechanization Technologies to MSMEs in the past few years, he stated. Prof (Dr) Hirani added that in CSIR-CMERI parameter by parameter testing is done before development of the first technology prototype. Multiple testing of farm machineries is done for a comprehensive evaluation of the Technology in terms of Efficiency and Performance. He also briefly elaborated about CSIR-CMERI farm mechanization technologies which include Krishi Shakti Tractor (transferred to 2 MSMEs), Pneumatic Precision Planter for Vegetables (transferred to three MSMEs and ISAE Team Award Winner), Inter-Row Rotary Cultivator for Wide-Row Crops, Offset Rotavator for Orchards, Programmable Irrigation Scheduler, Solar Tree based Automatic Irrigation System, Tractor Mounted Mentha Harvester, Tractor Mounted Spading Machine, Paddy-Straw Augmented Cold Storage, Ginger or Turmeric Processing, Automatic Biomass Briquetting Plant, 1-6-10-50 TPD Oil Expeller (transferred to 14 MSMEs) and Fully Automated Biodiesel Plant.
Quality Control is one of the most important Vertical Priorities of CSIR-CMERI thus there is an Independent Quality Control Set-Up at CSIR-CMERI. The Farm Mechanization Technologies goes through an intensive process of CAD, CDR-PDR, Brainstorming, 3D Printing and Manufacturing, said Prof (Dr) Hirani.
In combination with farm mechanization there is a need for precision agriculture to ensure balanced usage of nutrients, water and fertilisers along with detailed soil testing. In this regard, CSIR-CMERI has established a Precision Agriculture Lab at CSIR-CMERI-CoEFM, Ludhiana. Custom Hiring Centres are partially successful and thus there is a need for development of affordable farm mechanization Initiatives which is customised as per geographical requisites and the dominant trend of fragmentation of farm land. The indigenously developed Compact Tractor, E-Tractor and E-Tiller are headed towards ushering in a new-age in farming. CSIR-CMERI has also developed a number of post-harvest technologies to improve the shelf-life of agricultural produce as 25-45% of food crops are lost owing to improper Post-Harvest technologies. A Farmer’s Mela has been proposed at CMERI-CoEFM, Ludhiana whereby the manufacturers, traders, farmers and researchers can assemble and jointly discuss their challenges and seek sustainable solutions.
The others who spoke on the occasion included Dr. C.R. Mehta, Director, ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal, who briefed about the prevalent Technologies of CIAE for various stages of Agriculture such as Land Preparation, Sowing and Planting, Harvesting & Post Harvesting and Shri Sanjeev Chawla, Director, MSME-DI, Karnal, who shared about the numerous farm mechanization technologies which are available now and pointed the need to add value to these technologies through upgradation of the performance parameters.
The Webinar was attended by over 80 participants from MSMEs of the Karnal Farm Machinery Manufacturers Association, World Bank, HCCI, MSME-DIs among others.
